A Winter Tale

A Few weeks ago I was at the 15th Annual African Diaspora Film festival here in New York and by chance I happen to attend the screening for this film called A Winter Tale.

The film took place in Toronto, in a neighborhood called Parkdale.

Now I'm not at all familiar with Toronto or the neighborhoods, or the city dynamics etc. but I loved this movie so much. The acting was really good, well written. The way certain details came through the exposition was handled really well.

Its a story thats mainly centered around the events that take place after a young boy is shot in the head, and the effort of one community member to create a support group against the deaths of young Black males in the city.

I don't want to give up what happened, but i'm sure some of you have heard, or probably seen the film. (I think it was released in Canada in early 2006?)

I really enjoyed how the film focused in on the Black community in Toronto. I caught a little deja vu while watching the film (as a kid my father owned similar west Indian type of restaurant in the bronx). I'm a young Black male and I come from an African American/Caribbean Background, and I knew of certain things issues going on up there but I'm not too informed. (What I know of city issues in Toronto come from my niece and nephew that live up there)

watching the move was refreshing because it really is a remarkable work of art, but at the same time I was frustrated because, I said to myself damn why is it they never try to show you Canada from this perspective

I would definitely recommend this movie here are some links about flick: ledaserenesnewz1.blogspot.com, awintertale.ca

Best thing about it was the Director and two of the actors were in the audience. The director said that most of the script was based off of improv, that right there was remarkable.

The Reel World Film Festival in April opened with a gala performance of the made in Canada film A Winter Tale. It won the award for best Canadian feature at the festival which included films from a number of countries.

It's the work of British-born, Trinidad raised Frances-Anne Solomon whose experience embraces award winning feature films and television productions for the BBC.

Leonie Forbes, Jamaica's "first lady of film" won the festival's award of excellence for her telling performance as Miss G, the proprietor of a small restaurant in Toronto's Parkdale district, where the entire tale is set during bleak winter time.

After a ten-year-old boy is shot by a stray bullet a social worker tries to form a black men's support group seeking a witness to the crime. But it's an uphill struggle against fear of retribution from neighborhood, drug dealing gangs is portrayed. A Winter Tale offers a searching perspective on the timely issues of gun violence, set against the backdrop of a Caribbean community's hopes and tribulations. The film, although fictional is directed and filmed with a documentary-like sense of realism. It reminds one how shallow are the "reality" TV shows when art can imitate life in such a telling fashion.

At present, I can't tell you where this moving film might be shown theatrically, but please watch out for A Winter Tale.

A Winter Tale is a beautifully shot feature that highlights men's communication skills regarding gun violence.

Shot on location in Toronto's inner city neighbourhood of Parkdale, this crucially relevant film is all too timely.

We feel the characters viscerally, as if the film were a documentary, but its narrative flow and close camera work draws the audience in to experience the action as if we were part of the circle, face to face with real people with whom we can identify.

Scene by scene, Parkdale comes to life in full spectrum; character is revealed through a grim, suspenseful inevitability.

A Winter Tale does not provide answers to Toronto's gun violence per se, but it does expose the difficulties­ and the necessity­ in ensuring that a dialogue about these issues gets started. Now.

Penn Kemp, pennkemp.ca

I have to say, I loved this movie (thank you Peter for bringing it with you) The story was very moving (well done Frances Anne) with a few fun moments and tragedy. However, the underlying story is very fresh today, whether in Canada, USA, UK, and all over the world. Its an issue that really needs to be noted, and for people to start realising. We are a multicultural society now, we have to learn to live and respect one another. This movie would be very good shown in schools, to show kids the gritty side of life, not the glamorised side like a Hollywood movie.

I have to say, after watching A Winter Tale, I'm considering a career change. I'm seriously considering re-training and doing something more meaningful with my life, to help kids/youths/supporting adults. I've been thinking about it for a while, and with seeing A Winter Tale, I'm very seriously contemplating this move. Sorry, back to the movie: Would I watch the movie again? Yes Would I buy the movie? Yes! Well done everyone on the movie!!

My response to this movie was it was great. The reason why I say this is because I can relate to these things that happened in the movie from my own experience growing up in a troubled neighborhood. I myself grew up in TCHC neighborhood so I see these things taking place on a regular basis, people getting shot, drugs being sold, police come in and harassing innocent people and friends getting killed over nonsense.

Therefore we need more community support and more community organizations to help out in these troubled neighborhoods, so that our young men and women can have a future and move forward in life to accomplish their goals and dreams.

The reason why I thought the movie was great was because it showed the struggle that we face on a daily basis, growing up and living in a troubled neighborhood. It also had a community leader that was trying to make a difference by having community group meetings once or twice a week, having people come out and participate in making a change in the community.